My weekend project

This is my chosen project for this weekend. It’s an antique dresser my grandfather bought for my sister when she was born. It’s been sitting in my basement for the last couple of years and I keep looking at it thinking I should do something with it. My plan is to do a “soft” restoration. Basically I plan on giving it a good sanding, re-staining, and finishing. The major challenge is the top. I think there was a leaky aquarium on it at some point which split the top. I decided to try and salvage the top by adding a couple of butterflies to stabilize the split and just call it “character”. So I started today after work and finished the second butterfly and scraping and sanding the top. This was my first attempt with butterflies and I’m pretty pleased with the effort. Tomorrow I’m going to clean up the drawer front and rest of the case.

doorslammer, like the butterflies. after looking at the pix a few times, it looks like the “split” looks like a glue joint to me. just seems very straight and the grain dosen’t seem to match across the gap. anyway, guess it dosen’t really matter, just and observation. hope the sanding goes well and I’m curious to see the finished project.joe

-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!

Duane, I’m thinking the wood is white oak, but I’m not sure. I’m still a novice wood identifier. Regarding the split, I’m pretty sure it is a glue joint. The top looks to be made up of several boards about 4” wide.